


glistening

by cresswell



Series: lost days [1]
Category: Maximum Ride - James Patterson
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Flying, House Cleaning, OT6, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, and whatever else i write about, as well as the other pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-20
Updated: 2013-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-12 09:17:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/809916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cresswell/pseuds/cresswell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>nudge decides to be spontaneous, and it involves a mop. the flock is hesitant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	glistening

It all starts when Nudge is digging around in the basement of the house.  
  
She's been down there dozens of times, of course, but Max doesn't like it when they sneak below the floorboards. It's not sanitary, she says. Nudge doesn't really like it, either, because she doesn't particularly like rats, but it's a Tuesday and it's too hot to go out and do anything and Angel and Gazzy keep complaining about having nothing to do. Max had actually thrown a stuffed pony at Angel's head, so Nudge had decided it was time to intervene.  
  
She resurfaces from the basement with dust in her hair and a mop in her hands, and promptly runs into Fang.  
  
He barely raises an eyebrow, which is actually quite a lot of expression for Fang, and Nudge attempts to hide the mop behind her back. "Um. I. Um."  
  
"Give it here," Fang says and holds out a large hand. Nudge huffs a sigh and does as told. "You brought back a broom?"  
  
Nudge scowls. "Well Angel and Gaz are being such pains in the you-know-whats about being bored, and so then I found this and thought, you know..." She shifts closer and Fang inclines his head downward to hear her. Nudge cups her hands around his ear and whispers "we could clean."  
  
Fang reels back, mouth actually slightly agape, and Nudge would find it comical if she wasn't too busy being just as shocked as he was.  
  
"C-Clean?" Fang stammers, voice a horrified whisper, and Nudge rolls her eyes.  
  
"Yes, Fang. Clean. A thing that people do to help prevent pest invasion. I think it's about time that we all-"  
  
"Hold on," Fang interrupts, brushing past her. "I've got to get reinforcements for this."  
  
Moments later, he's back with Max, and she looks to be a mixture of horror and shock herself. "Nudge, are you feeling alright?" She coos and presses her palm to Nudge's forehead, her pretty dark blonde hair falling over her shoulder. "I told you not to go down to the basement-"  
  
"I'm fine!" Nudge doesn't mean to snap but it comes off a little sharp, and Max crosses her arms over her chest. "I just don't like constantly having to eat off paper towels because the dishes are dirty or smelling like trash when I leave because nobody takes the garbage out. That's all."  
  
Max and Fang shift uncomfortably and Nudge feels a pang of guilt. She knows they try their hardest to take car of them all, but they're not parents and she knows it's not fair to put them in that position.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I just don't want any of us getting sick because of, like, dust or fleas or whatever. If you guys don't wanna do it I can just get the others to help instead."  
  
"It's not that." Max shrugs and lets her hair fall like a curtain between her and the other two. "It's just that, well... none of us really know how to clean, do we?"  
  
"We have all the stuff, though, we can figure it out," Nudge replies, twirling the mop anxiously in her hands. "I mean, it will take time, but if we divide it up between all of us it should go easier and quicker."  
  
Fang shrugs and says he thinks it's a good idea, and then Max mumbles something about Nudge being manipulative, and Nudge just smiles innocently all the while and glows when Fang pats her head on his way down to the basement to get more supplies.  
  
It takes them a bit to divide everything up, but soon they figure it out: Angel will dust, because it seems easy enough and she's small enough to fit into the particularly dusty places, such as between the top of the bookcase and the ceiling and the tops of the ceiling fans. Iggy's put in charge of scrubbing the windows ("inside  _and_  out", Nudge stresses as she hands him the rag and spray bottle) because he knows where the windows are well enough. Gazzy is on dishes duty, and he whines a lot but Max says that if he doesn't shut up she'll make him clean the basement (even though they all know it's an empty threat). Max is in charge of soaking their clothes in soap in the river (they're pretty sure they might have had a laundry machine at some point, but if they did they can't find it), and Fang and Nudge split up the mopping.  
  
It doesn't take even ten minutes before Nudge is sweating and secretly regretting the decision. Not that she'd ever tell any of the Flock, because they're never going to shut up about it as it is. She's mopping in front of the big window in the main room when she hears someone tapping on the glass, and when she turns around, Iggy's grinning widely and waving at her through the glass. She laughs, letting the mop still in her hands for a moment to press her hand up against where Iggy's is on the other side. It's a nice break, but soon they're both back to their jobs.  
  
All of them exhaust themselves- and it's sad that a group of kids get tired out from  _cleaning_ \- but they're mostly satisfied with their job done because when they finish, everything is simply glistening.  
  
Gazzy complains when they take down the newly cleaned dishes to eat on, but Fang just makes an obscene hand gesture and they all laugh and just eat off paper towels like they're used to. It's nice, and it smells like citrus-scented cleaning spray, and the floor is shiny, and there's not a bug in sight. They stuff themselves full with leftover god-knows-what, and soon Max and Fang are asleep on the floor while the younger kids watch late-night cartoon reruns, and Nudge almost feels normal. Almost.  
  
"Hey," Iggy says, voice soft, bumping Nudge's shoulder with his own, and Nudge realizes that her eyes are stinging not with lingering cleaning spray but with  _tears_. She had been doing so well at not crying that she gets even more upset and then the tears spill over.  
  
"Hey, hey, hey," Iggy murmurs against her hair, voice soft and calming and soothing. "It's okay. I know things are weird, now that we've seen Ella and Max's mom and we've experienced, like, being normal." He pulls back a bit so Nudge has no choice to look at him. "But this is  _our_  normal." He smiles, tucking a crazy curl behind her ear. "Yours and mine."  
  
"And mine," Gaz mumbles sleepily, somewhere amidst piles of quilts and Angel's wings. "And Angel's, and Fang's, and Max's..."  
  
Nudge laughs a little, embarrassed for being caught at such a vulnerable moment. But  _it's okay_ , Iggy keeps reminding her against her hair, and Gazzy crawls over to snuggle into her other side and Angel plops herself happily in her lap, and then everything feels right again, and the four of them spend the night watching cartoons and smiling fondly at Max and Fang.


End file.
